All posts by John Baum

Day 44 – The Desert, Always the Desert (June 9)

Dusted off the sleeping bag and packed the ground sheet after a couple hours of sleep. Back on the trail at 7:30.

The Wolf Laid Here

 

This wind just never stops. I really, really hate it. Sand keeps pelting me in the face.

Walking in a Hot Sandbox

The Windy, Sucky, Desert

I ate my last pop tart on the go, then started feeding on a family size bag of peanut M and M’s. Passed a couple hiking together after a little chat. They caught up with me a couple miles later when I was taking a break. Said they have been finding peanut M&M’s on the trail which they were picking up and eating. Turns out I was leaking a slow dribble. 🙂

The Crappy Desert
Nap Time

Woke up around 3:30 for the next segment. Given the boost from last night, I figured I could take down some big miles. Hit the water cache for a reload and ran into Indigo (the tree counting gal) and Kara again. Sinatra was there stocking up on free food. Some other gal rolled up, sat down in the dirt, and stuck her face into a single serving Nutella cup that our trail angel left us.

Up
Looking Back from 6k

Next came a mega climb from 5.3 to 7k over 3 miles. The youngsters passed me on the way up. I’m getting used to that. After this climb I was rewarded with mile after mile of burned out terrain. Used to be a nice forest here. Now it is a bush filled sadness.

Bush Filled Sadness

This wind will just not stop. I got on some dirt road and started scouting for a camp spot around 8pm. Found some hikers cowboying it in a dismal spot. Moved on. By 9 I was getting a little desperate and settled on a spot under a lone tree around mile 642.

Stopped, and started setting up the tent in this nasty wind. Lost a tent stake when the wind tore the tent out of my hand. Finally got it up. Blew up my air matress, pillow, took off shoes, changed into my sleep clothes and buttoned up.

Laying there the wind is relentless. I can hear the tree crackling. For some reason, the wind is whipping around and hitting my tent violently from opposite sides every 30 seconds to a minute. First it blows from the left and the sides deform to hit me in the face. Then the other side which deforms and hits me in the back of the head. Face…Head….Face….Head…. Screw this.

At 10:30 I reversed the whole process. Deflate the mattress, pillow, change back into hiking clothes, put on my shoes. Take the tent down, put on my puffy, look around for my missing tent stake (never found), pack everything up into my bag, throw a rock at a couple kangaroo mice who I have decided to blame for this mess. I turned my tracker back on and started walking.

Left the dirt road and got back on the trail. I was stumbling around, super tired. Finally I got on the East side of a hill which was blocking some of the wind. Kept looking for spots, but nothing good. Around midnight I finally found a narrow spot that was semi-level between some bushes. Threw down my ground sheet, pad, and fell asleep in my bag.

I figure I’m camping around mile 645. That makes it a ~20 mile day, so I guess that’s good. I need to get back into sync tomorrow. Will this desert shit ever end?

Day 43 – A New Hiking Plan (June 8)

Woke this morning still feeling dehydrated. Most of the folks are packing up and leaving to get some miles in before the heat. I decided to lounge around today near the water and get my mojo back. I’m not leaving until there is no trace of yellow in my piss.

Washed my clothes in the stream and hung them out to dry. Setup my solar panel and charged all my bats. Grabbed my pad and spent the morning blogging while watching hikers trickling in. Went from a couple people to 30 by 11:00. All were laying around for the day in two clumps.

Clump Number 1
Clump Number 2

 

Hung out with Thirsty Detour for a big chunk of the day. He’s an actuary from Salt Lake. He is averaging 15’s, so I probably won’t see him much after this. I think the Camels he is smoking might have something to do with the mileage numbers 🙂

While we were chatting, the sick dude from a couple days ago showed up to chat. Apparently he had setup yesterday around the same time as me, but has been laying in his tent all day. His name is Payless. He told me that every time he thinks he’s feeling better he loads up, gets a few steps in, then barfs. He’s a young, slim, fit kid. Not much fat reserves.

Thirsty and I felt bad for him. Payless thought maybe some food with lots of fiber might help. Thirsty dug into his pack and found a nutrition bar. I just threw him my food bag and said to pick out anything he wanted. He ended up taking a couple granola bars and all my trail mix (bunch of nuts and stuff). Fine by me, that mix sucked anyway.

Plenty of hiker sympathy, but nobody wanted him to be too close to him. He must have already picked up on that, because his tent was setup alone far from the group. He wondered back to his isolation chamber and went to sleep. Later I wondered by his tent and saw a gigantic rattler slithering a few feet from it. Must have been 5 feet long. That got him a little excited. Poor guy can’t get a break.

By 3, I was feeling the urge to get on the trail.  I’m pissing clear, potable water.  I should bottle this stuff!

I’m sick of this heat. I’m sick of all this wind. I’m REALLY sick of the desert. I’ve been hiking the desert on and off for 6 weeks and enough is enough. Decided that I’m going to rock the trail tonight.

I wrapped up my right leg in a new compression bandage using some tips from a guy with a similar problem. Picked up my pack, said my goodbyes, and clocked in at precisely 4:00. I’m hiking second shift tonight and there is plenty of overtime available.

Bye Crappy Little Stream

SECOND SHIFT
I left with 5.5 liters of water, so I’m back to a 40 pound carry. The temp was 80 and dropping. I’m feeling pretty good.

There was some small climbing up to about 6.9k. In the tree line so the trail was pleasant. There are some streams during the 6 to 8 mile stretch before the decent into desert misery.

Up
Standing Water!
Nice Forest Walk

It was nice to actually see more than a trickle of water. I’m water loading as I walked sucking down 2 liters in 6 miles. I refilled at one of the stream crossings.

Fill’er Up
No Sea Creatures!

 

Stopped for some dinner at 7 at a camp site. Most folks are setting up, I’m going to keep moving.

Trails continued to be nice for a few more miles.

Moon is Rising

It was cool walking into the dusk. As the sun was setting to the West, the moon was rising to the Southeast. Looked like a full Moon.

The Rock Artist Strikes Again

Crossed some burn then headed downhill. The few unburned trees began to disappear around 11. Had my headlamp on, but only needed to use it occasionally. Most of the time I was just hiking by moonlight. Had the headphones blasting music from my play list. Then it happened.

Werewolves of London starting playing.

Looked into the sky and saw a full Moon…..

Oh NO!!!!!!!

And let out a long howl….

The Howling

…..and Salty J was transformed.

The rest of the night was a blur. Hiking by moonlight until 4 am through crazy 25 mile/hr winds with nasty gusts to 40. Sand blowing everywhere. No shelter, even on the lee side of the hills. Passing hikers cowboy camped in sad little piles trying to get shelter from the wind. None of this bothered the Wolf.

Sleep came about 4am.   Woke up a few hours later at 7am laying on a ground sheet under a Joshua Tree with my sleeping bag covered in a sand. There were some instant coffee packets and snickers bars missing from my food bag.

No hikers were harmed during this episode, but a few may have had their tents peed on. I’m pretty sure the Wolf peed on my left shoe during a particularly bad gust of wind.

Did 25 miles that night (mile 627). I’m finally back in the groove!

Day 42 – This Heat Sucks (June 7)

By the time I got out of my tent, Mayo had left and the other 2 folks were packing up. I spent some extra time doing stretches and, after the last one left, found a nice vista for a morning constitution.  

We camped around mile 587 last night. Didn’t have much of an objective today, just wanted to make the next water and see what else I could do. Unfortunately it turned out to be a rough day.

This part sucked

Started at about 5k feet and the trail is generally a long exposed mild upward climb for a while. These loud windmills seem to never go away. There are not that many of them, it is just that the trail seems to keep coming back to the same area. Had to blast the headphones to get that grinding sound out of my head.

Wind Turbines are Still Here……
More Climbing
And More Wind Turbines
And More Climbing
Beware the Mad Cows!!

Before Hamp Williams Pass at around 594, the trail turned vicious. Steep, exposed climb up to 5.8, down to the Pass, then another slog up to 6.2k at 597.5. I stopped for a some brunch at 10:30 with a couple of folks (Pinata and Sour Straws). Temp on my thermometer was 92 and climbing. By the time I reached the second peak, I was covered in sweat and could not keep up on the water intake. Shin splint on the right leg was killing me from the brief down hills.

Salty J

Time for a change in tactics. Around noon, I found a nice shady spot under a tree, threw down my pad and went to sleep.

Nap Time
View is not too Bad.

It is hard to describe water anxiety when the temps are pushing 100 degrees. Middle of the day, Out of water, leg hurting, still carrying at least 35 pounds, and relief is 4 miles away. Only solution is to reach down and grab some grit.

If I had the water, I’d have stayed longer. By this point I was down to 1 liter and getting worried. Still another 4 or 5 miles to Robin Bird Spring. So, back on the trail.

The trail joins some crappy dirt road to a private residence. There are lots of “No Trespassing” and “No Water” signs next to the structures here. I expected to see some bearded guy with a shotgun standing guard. Didn’t see a single hiker and pulled the last water from my bladder 2 miles from the spring. No love in this stretch.

Reached Robin Bird around 3:30. I’m pissing dark yellow and I’m super dehydrated. Bunch of hikers laying around, some of whom are packing up to do some late hiking. Shade and water. Paradise.

I setup my tent and then spent the rest of the day drinking, eating, and sleeping. I pounded at least 4 liters before nightfall. Was dozing in my tent when a couple and another dude setup next to me. The couple wanted to start a fire. The dude was like “I think that is a really bad idea…the wind is going to blow embers into our tents”. It went back and forth for a while but I figured he was going to win the argument, so I went back to sleep. There was no fire thankfully.

Home

I did a pathetic ~14 miles today. Need a better plan tomorrow.

 

Day 41 – Trying to Get the Rhythm Back (June 6)

Woke up a bit late. Last night I set my tent on a slope so my legs were elevated. Trying to keep the swelling down on the right one. Seems to work, but every time I roll over, I slide downhill until my head is surrounded in tent. Maybe all that blood flow to my brain is making me smarter 🙂

Plan was to do 12 miles to Golden Oaks Spring by 12 pm and wait out the heat. That didn’t work out very well. Starting late, 85+ by 10, exposed trail. The trail designers didn’t disappoint. It was 2,300 up and 2,300 feet down. Thanks.

I hiked with a couple of guys for a few miles. Turns out one of them was a dude I ran into during one of my worst days days where I got lost over and over again. I had intersected him after saving No English from a similar fate. He has been hiking 10 to 15’s the whole trail….slow but steady I guess. Would have liked to chat with him longer. He is from Torrance and had a lot of interesting stats about his generation (he is 23). Said that Millennials are generally not interested in restaurants and night clubs, preferring to cook in with a group of friends. If folks are ordering stuff from Amazon AND not going out to eat, a lot of traditional retail businesses are drying up. Knew that was the trend, but I wonder how folks actually socialize with strangers. Maybe it is replaced with all the social media outlets.

I’m Trying, Rock Artist, I’m Trying !!

I outpaced those guys and hiked a bit with a couple of gals who just graduated from college. They decided to start at Tehachapi for their thru, so this was the first day on the trail. One graduated in environmental science and was doing some research for the forest service, which she will continue when she gets back. Her research is tree coverage in the Philadelphia area for each decade from the 60’s to today. Looks at old photographs counting 10,000 points in each decade. Covered 7,000 so far. Apparently it has increased from 17% to 23% today. So I guess that is good.

Arrived at Golden Oaks hot, exhausted, and thirsty. Had maybe a liter left. There must have been 20 folks all clustered around the water. Small flow coming out of a plastic pipe into a big concrete trough. There are tadpoles and scummy algea growing all over it. Fortunately the the flowing water was clear, so I filled up and lounged with the rest of the crew.

There is a dude there who has been barfing for the last day or so. He definitely caught something nasty….which I don’t want. Most of us are thinking the same thing. There is a 5 foot open space around him. Heh.

Loaded up at 5ish to do a few more miles. Hooked up with an English dude named Mayo and a guy named Baton for the last 2 miles. Mayo and I camped at a spot around 587 next to a load of windmills. Mayo is an interesting character. Just retired from the National Health Service. He hiked the AT about 10 years ago and wanted to do another one, so here he is. Gave me the scoop on hiking Scotland. Says that it is nice in May and June. After that, you are followed by a cloud of these biting bugs that rise up from the ground to follow you around. I’ll definitely remember that.

These must be older versions of the wind turbines. The things are loud. Sounds like I’m next to a factory. Mayo says I should imagine it the air conditioning in a hotel room. Whatever.

Adding Noise to the Desert Misery

16 miles today. My mileage is sucking.

It is getting hard to adjust being in a different hiker bubble. All the folks I got to know over the past 4 weeks are now way ahead of me. Now I have to learn a whole new set of names again.

Day 40 – Back to the Trail (June 5)

Alice and I left the house at 3ish to head back to the trail near Tehachapi. I was driving. Alice doesn’t like canyon roads, so I tried a different route on the 5, down the grapevine, and catching the 58 South of Tehachapi. That turned out to be a bad move. It added an extra 1 hour to our trip and 1.5 hours of Alice complaining. She thought I had some secret agenda (I didn’t).

Finally we got to town and headed out on Willow Springs. From Willow Springs it is an 8 mile hike to the point were the trail crosses the 58. I had hoped to drop some water at the 58 before hitting the trail, but since we were running late that was not happening. So Alice dropped me and 6 gallons of water at the trail head and took off. Figured I’d leave the water for other hikers.

My pack is super heavy. I’ve 5 liters of water and enough food to get me almost 150 miles at what will likely be a 15 mile a day average given the condition of my right leg. This section is notorious for sucking. Very little water, exposed climbs, very windy, lot of crappy sandy trails sucking up each step.

Then I got some major trail magic.

Magic is Within

A dude named Legend and Coppertone were setup near the trail serving up spaghetti and smoothies. I was in a hurry to get on the trail, but Legend convinced me to come sit for a few minutes. Glad I did. There was a group of folks there milling around and he offered to slack pack all of us to the 58! Hell ya!!!! I gave him my 43 pound pack, grabbed my bladder, and took off a little after 5.

Hiking the PCT with a Bag of Water and some Starbursts

This 8 mile bit was a bunch of gentle climbs and descents among low hills. The winds here are relentless, hence all the wind turbines. Seems there are all types of the things out here.

The Wind Turbine Tinkerers
Turbines Here
There

Everywhere

The terrain is, well, unremarkable. In my excitement to take Legend up on his offer, I forgot to ask him where he was going to meet us. I think he said something like 9:00. Hmmm. I gave that a couple minutes of worry and forgot about it. I was blasting through the hills with my ~3 pound “pack” and loving it. Some rock artist seemed to agree.

Yes I Am !
Wonder if My Pack is Down There….

Crossed a bridge on the way down. It was surrounded by white buckets. Trail Magic? Nope, just full of sand. I can tell hikers have opened each one checking. That is just cruel.

Buckets of Disappointment

At the bottom of the valley, the trail follows a paved road to an overpass. It was getting dark and had not seen a soul yet. Turns out Legend was setup on the North side. The whole crew was there chit-chatting and loading their stuff. Got a picture of Legend before I took off.

My Hero

I was feeling pretty good, so it was time to do some serious climbing. Put on the headlamp and followed the 58 for a mile until the switch backs start up. The wind was crazy. Started as 20 mph gusts and kept getting stronger. I hooked up with a couple of gals and we hiked for a few miles together. One of them decided to setup a tent halfway up….good luck with that.

The cool thing was a nearly full Moon rose and soon headlamps were not even needed. Passed this dude cowboy camping in the wind tunnel. Looked miserable. Found out later that his inflatable pillow flew off into the emptiness. The wind slacked off a bit near the top of the canyon and I found some good protected spots around mile 570. Setup at 11ish and had a good night’s sleep. 12 miles for a half day, that seems respectable.